Did Justin Bieber's Tour Really Sell Out In An Hour?

According to Billboard, tickets to Justin Bieber's 45-city North American tour sold out in an hour. Yes, that's right, the whole tour in one hour. But is this really accurate? NPR doesn't seem to think so.

According to the radio station's All Things Considered, there are a number of factors that need to be accounted for in these statistics. Using the Madison Square Garden concert (which sold out in 30 seconds) as an example, the blog breaks down the absurd numbers.

Firstly, these quotes do not take into consideration ticket pre-sales. Who knows how many tickets got swooped up in the days leading up to the public onsale, not to mention the number of tickets held for the record company and media. According to Gary Bongiovanni, the editor in chief of Pollstar, "It wouldn't surprise me if more than half of [the tickets] were already accounted for before the public onsale."

The second large factor is ticket brokers, or scalpers. These people are prefessionals, and they know how to buy large quantities of good seats better than you do. Ticket brokers have banks of computers set up with "bot" programs that can maneuver around safeguards and tie up a huge portion of available tickets within seconds, allowing them to choose the best seats available.

But no matter the reasons, tickets to see the Biebz are, of course, in extremely high demand. There are currently 2,000+ tickets for sale on StubHub for his first Madison Square Garden date (November 28), and they're going for up to $4,500. Talk about Bieber Fever. [NPR]